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The Christmas Pageant:
A tradition that never grows old. |
This morning, near the end of our
church’s Advent Celebration service, children paraded down the aisle, dressed in the
familiar attire of shepherds, wise men, and angels. The pint-sized actors gathered
around a manger, where “Mary” gently tended the baby Jesus and “Joseph” helped
her keep watch over him.
Watching that timeless scene unfold,
I was reminded of my very favorite Christmas story, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. First published in
1972, the story probably wouldn’t clear all of today's “politically-correct” hurdles as there is something in it to offend just about everyone at least
once. There are church gossips and
busybodies, there are schoolyard name-calling and bullying. A good case could be
made that it contains child abuse and even—heaven forbid!—cruelty toward a cat.
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You can see from my copy
of this book it is well read. |
But, for me, this is the quintessential
Christmas story (besides, of course, the original one). No matter how many
times I read this little book or see the play, I laugh out loud at the antics
of the incorrigible Herdmans, a ragtag collection of siblings who terrorize an
entire town and threaten to hijack the annual Christmas pageant. But always by
the end of the story, I’m in tears. When I read about Imogene Herdman crying as
she performs her role as Mary, I think that perhaps no other “actress” has ever
taken the assignment so much to heart. And when Gladys Herdman “with her skinny
legs and dirty sneakers sticking out from under her robe” yells “Hey! Unto you
a child is born,” she embodies the excitement that must have filled the first
heralds of that message.
Yes, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever isn’t your typical, reverent Christmas story. But I think it’s one of the best because it deals with
an imperfect world and the imperfect
people who inhabit it. Ultimately, it is the story of transformation and redemption.
And, after all, isn’t that what Christmas is about?
Have a favorite Christmas story you’d
like to recommend?
